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35 WINTER 2020 a shiitake and Fontina. But they're still relatively small, still part of their community. "We have to be. Because if we're not community-driven, what are we doing this for?" Bedon says. "We are a local business, so we support our local farmers. We support our local schools." (Nomad holds fundraisers for local schools, which receive 20% of a night's income.) Bedon still works five days a week while raising three young daughters who've become pizza connoisseurs (with a favorite spot in Rome — Ai Marmi). He talks about his customers as though they're family: "We care about them. We care about what's going into their bodies." He talks about the craft of making great crust as though the dough has tender feelings ("It's sensitive, like me"). And he gets excited about things like Nomad's annual blind tomato tasting with staff, to determine which brand they'll use that year. And yet Bedon insists he's not one of those absolute pizza obsessives. "Look, it's just pizza," he'll tell you. That is, until the question of really expanding Nomad comes up, at which point his pizza freak ascends. "But that would mean taking a lot of money from [outside investors]!" he says. "Which would almost definitely interfere with our philosophy" — i.e., a complete dedication to "quality seasonal ingredients, local, local, local, and organic, if possible." Back when Bedon and Grim started out, Bedon's partner was a farmer, and she connected him with other local suppliers and farms in New Jersey. And he recently bought nine acres for growing his own organic produce. "Our buffalo mozzarella is shipped to us every week. And from a North Jersey dairy they send a super- fresh cow's milk mozzarella, fior di latte, which trans- lates as 'flower of milk.' But with investors in the picture, we'd be getting calls suggesting we buy frozen mozzarella, which is so much cheaper, and cheaper flour," he says. "And we don't want to do that." "So sure," Bedon admits. "I'm a perfectionist. Why bother doing it, otherwise?" Is that perfectionism the secret to great pizzas? To the success of Nomad? Bedon pauses and says, without an ounce of irony: "I tell people our secret ingredient is love." Which may sound like the corniest thing you've ever heard, until you remember his deep connection to his family, friends, his neighbors, his customers — even his tomatoes. After all, like pizza, love comes in many forms. ■ Emily Nunn is the author of The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Recipe to Mend a Broken Heart, which Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything) called a "tour de force." "I tell people our secret ingredient is love." Bedon in his Princeton restaurant designed by David Fierabend '82

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